Goodwill, Vanguard to open $2 million career center in Detroit's North End neighborhood

Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit and Vanguard Community Development Corp. have secured $2 million in funding to renovate a building in the city’s North End neighborhood into a career center offering job readiness, training and placement and financial literacy programs.

The North End Workforce Readiness Center will be housed in the 100,000-square-foot building Vanguard owns at 2777 E. Grand Blvd., between Hastings Road and the I-75 Chrysler Freeway.

Goodwill will lease the building to serve as a permanent location for its mentoring and job training program, Flip the Script, aimed largely at at-risk men. It also plans to move the Center for Working Families it operates in the North End neighborhood at Second and Pallister avenues to the career center so it's more entrenched in the neighborhood.

The Center for Working Families program, which is funded by Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corp.and United Way of Southeastern Michigan, provides financial coaching, financial planning/budgeting, income supports and workforce and career development opportunities.

“This is all part of the revitalization of the North End in our city,” said Felicia Hunter, executive vice president of employment and training at Goodwill. "To provide people (with) job training and job placement assistance leads to economic self-sufficiency for the individuals and their families."

Vanguard, a longtime fixture in the neighborhood, will assist with community outreach, Hunter said, noting,“It’s a good partner to have, (that) is very familiar with the community’s needs and barriers.”

The center is scheduled to open in September and serve more than 700 people each year.

O’Brien Edwards Construction Co. is serving as the lead contractor on the project.

JPMorgan Chase has committed $1 million over the next two years to Goodwill for the renovation and operation of the new North End Workforce Readiness Center, as part of its $100 million, five-year commitment to Detroit’s economic recovery made in May 2014.

The Troy-based Kresge Foundation is also making a $750,000 grant to Goodwill for the project, and Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corp. will provide about $250,000 in construction financing to building owner Vanguard for the project, Hunter said.

Kresge and JPMorgan Chase have supported Flip the Script since its 2003 inception. The program is designed to put at-risk men and women in Detroit and outer Wayne County to work by breaking down employment barriers that historically have led to underachievement and/or criminal behavior. The program provides services around literacy, GED certification and job skills training.